Edward's return
by CowiePaws
Summary: The Cullens return to Forks, Edward along with them, eighty years after they left. Rumours and common sense have told them that Bella has been dead for years, but Edward is soon about to discover something none of them expected. Rated T as I'm paranoid.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One: **

**BPOV**

After Edward had left, I was at a loss. I was like a leftover planet after its star had expired; I felt numb.

But time passed and gradually, over time, I started to heal though, as Edward had said I would. But slowly. Very slowly.

Jacob Black was a huge contribution to this; he was always there for me, and, without him, I might still be the lost wreck that Edward had left me as.

Having said this, I still burned inside every time I thought of him, but that was inevitable.

I never thought I would see Edward again, though I kept hoping and wishing; every time I picked up the phone, answered the door, or got an email, I prayed, foolishly, that it would be him.

It never was.

But then, one day, something happened that changed my life even more. I remember it, around eighty years ago, around half a year after Edward had left.

_I was just walking back from Jake's house to my truck, parked at the bottom of the hill, where I'd left it._

_I'd shivered, watching the blood-red sunset._

_I think I subconsciously knew that something was wrong, but didn't pay much attention to the nagg_

_Driving home, I had the feeling of being followed, and correctly so. _

_I suddenly heard a loud thump, on the roof of my truck. I screamed._

_I heard steel nails, scratching against my truck window, and then I manic face, lowering down into view. _

_It went so fast from then, that I barely had time to realise what was happening. _

_The windows shattered, and Victoria was on me, grinning furiously._

"_All alone, are we? Quite dangerous, don't you think?" Victoria grinned, and then lunged for my throat. _

_A stab of pain, a flash of red hair, and then more growl: the wolves. Then Victoria was gone, my truck was pummelled to ruins, and I was lying, grasping for air, with a deep, white-hot pain spreading through my body._

_The wolves had saved me for the second time in my life._

Then again, I thought to myself, to this day, Jake still kicks himself, saying that he hadn't saved me - far from it.

But I was happy with the outcome.

I was a vampire

**EPOV**

I couldn't do it. I turned to Alice, hoping she would see the agony in my eyes and understand.

Carlisle had recently decided that we should move back to Forks. It had been long enough that everyone we had known would be dead so we wouldn't be recognised at all. But the memories would still be there.

The pain in knowing that Bella was dead was almost unbearable.

But bear it I did - for my family. I had to stay alive for them. I lived every day concentrating on tomorrow, never concentrating on the present, not letting myself think.

Eighty years ago, when I left Forks, I had thought that I would be able to bear the pain, after a while ( I knew it would never completely subside ), but it did not.

_Urgh, you'd have thought he'd have lightened up a _tad_ by now, _thought Rosalie in an irritated tone._ He's just making life miserable for everyone else, Bella's dead for crying out loud, she probably has been for years._

My throat let out a blood-curdling rip, thrown in Rosalie's direction, and she raised an eyebrow.

Pain wrenched through my body. Bella. My Bella. Dead.

And it was my entire fault.

**Author's note:**

**Okay, this is my first fanfic, and so please review, saying whether or not I should continue this story. I'll probably put up a second chapter anyway, cos I'm not really all that happy with this one (it had to be the "explaining" chapter).**

**I hope you enjoyed it!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter two**

**BPOV**

I was mid-hunt when I smelt it.

A peculiar scent, clearly vampire, but different. With an animal tint to the fragrance. "Vegetarian" vampires, as _he_'d had once called them.

What was I doing? It had been eighty years, and I still called him _"him"_?

_EDWARD CULLEN._ I screamed internally.

It didn't hurt as much as I thought it would, in fact, I could barely feel the impact anymore, when it used to drive me insane with grief.

I grinned to myself. And then concentrated on the smell again.

If it wasn't the Cullens then it was some other vegetarian family; and the only other one I was aware of were the Denalis, but they never visited Forks.

I decided to follow the scent.

But what would I do if it was them? I pondered to myself.

Perhaps say hi?

No. I wasn't strong enough to do that.

If it _was_ them, I would go and live in La Push with Jake. The wolves accepted me now as a friend.

I would go to all lengths to avoid the Cullens. I didn't _want _to befriend him, after they'd left me to die.

But I would follow the scent - just to check.

**EPOV**

"There's someone following us," I heard Emmett snarl, under his breath, spinning on the spot and assuming an aggressive crouch.

I spun too, to face what seemed like an all-too-empty woods, just outside Seattle.

We'd just been travelling back to the huge house we'd lived in, in Forks, eighty years ago, t settle again.

I was trying not to let my mind think, but it was hard.

Agony ripped through my chest again and again - had been since we'd left Forks in the first place, but never as much as now.

The prospect of Bella being dead was too much - it felt like my heart ( if I actually had one ) would be crushed bearing the weight of it.

It was torture.

A sob was building in my throat as I allowed, stupidly, my mind to think of her.

Her endlessly deep, melted chocolate eyes, and long silky brown hair. Her disproportionate lips, and her scent. It set my throat on fire just thinking about it, but that was not what was causing me so much pain.

I suddenly saw a flash of hair, flicking through the trees, and my family tensed.

Jasper set off at a sprint for the offender, closely followed by Emmett, then the rest of us.

We stopped when we saw who she was.

I froze, my mind not quite comprehending who it was.

"Bella," Alice whispered in disbelief, taking a cautious step forward.

Bella, the vampire, instinctively took a step back, her eyes wide in bewilderment, and terror.

Alice didn't seem to notice though and tried to throw herself around her in a hug, sobs choking up in her throat.

"We thought you were dead!" She sobbed, with her arms around Bella's neck.

And the Bella wriggled away, still looking terrified, she took another step back, refusing to meet my eyes.

As if looking for an escape, her eyes darted to the left and then the right. And she took yet another step backwards

"Bella, I - " I chocked out. But as soon as I had spoken, she looked up, directly at me and I saw her golden vampire eyes for the first time.

But then she turned around, and sprinted, as if she was running for her life.

I was frozen to the spot for a second.

"Edward," Carlisle whispered, but before he could even finish saying my name, I was off like a rocket.

The fastest in my family, I could, and I _would _catch up with her; even if she ran to the South Pole, I would follow her.

I was catching up with her - I yelled her name, and she threw me a quick glance over her shoulder, still with those same wide, terrified eyes.

But she kept running.

And running.

And running.

She must have seen though that I was not going to stop, and I was catching up with her, only ten metres away.

She wasn't going to be able to lose me that easily.

She came to a sudden stop, and spun around, in the space of about a thirty second of a second.

"Bella, please, let me explain," I said, stopping too. "You've got to let me explain."

She paused, and then spoke in a voice that almost trembled with nerves mixed with fury.

"What's there to say?"

**Author's note:**

**Thank you so much for the kind reviews and all those people who added me to their favourites. I was very pleasantly surprised - I expcted to only have abot two or three emails, but had twenty four! So thank you!**

**I will continue this story, but I won't always post a new chapter every day, probably more like every week in truth, once it starts to set it. I just thought that, after the reviews, I should put my next chapter up as a thank you!**

**So... thank you!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter three**

**BPOV**

"What's there to say?" He whispered in disbelief, "Well, to be honest, I don't know where to start. Maybe the fact that I would _never _have left you, had I known this would still be the outcome. I left for you safety, and it caused me agony. I -"

I cut him off, furious. "What do you mean? "It caused you agony"," I snorted in bitter irony. "You told me that you left because you _didn't want me._"

"You don't understand - I had to say that. I looked at it like making a clean break. I hoped that it would make it that much more easy for you to recover - knowing that I was gone forever."

"You honestly think that humans understand when something's the end?" I asked sarcastically. "I was in denial for weeks. Every time I heard the phone ring, or even the doorbell, I thought it was you, coming back to save me. But it never was."

My voice broke for this last sentence.

"I had no idea under what conditions I was leaving you in. I assumed that after a few days you would run into the arms of that Mike guy," he spat Mike's name, "forgetting all about me."

"Well… you were wrong. You left me more vulnerable than I'd ever been before. Now is that all? 'Cos I've got a very busy schedule that I need to keep on top of," I was trying to slide out of this situation.

"No, I'm not done, Bella, please let me explain myself. I know I've put you through agony, but I've been through it too. Every second of the time I spent away, I was thinking, in anguish, of you. But I had to stay away because, at the time, it seemed the best thing for you. You're safety means the world to me."

His voice was like velvet; it made me want to fall into his arms. It was like a charm. My head was spinning, and I wanted, more than anything, to believe him.

He reached for my hand, his skin like silk, and warm under my touch, now that I was a vampire too, his temperature felt natural to me.

My initial morals were melting away.

But I couldn't let myself fall for him again.

I yanked my hand away from his. "No. Please. Don't." A whimper escaped my lips; I was terrified of him hurting me again. "No. I can't. I'm sorry."

Edward looked desperate.

"You've got to believe me Bella. I love you. I always have," he pleaded.

"That didn't stop you leaving last time," I replied sadly.

His head dropped, he breathed deeply, then looked up, completely in control again, and asked, "Who did this to you?"

"Victoria." I whispered my response.

A snarl escaped his lips, then he spoke he a harsh, furious voice "But why did she stop?"

I knew instantly what he meant. Why didn't she just kill me? Why had she left me as a vampire, rather than dead?

"Jacob."

He looked confused. "Jacob?"

"Jake's a werewolf, and he and his pack tore Victoria off me," I shuddered internally at the memory.

"It should have been me saving you," Edward hung his head again. "I wanted so much to protect you, but I just left you in a worse danger than ever."

"Yes. It should have been you. But no. I wasn't in danger. The wolves have got my back now." I was speaking my calmly, feeling less tense in his presence than before.

"_The wolves have got your back?_" He looked angry again. "Wolves are dangerous Bella."

I snorted ironically. "No, they're not. They saved me, twice. You didn't stick around long enough to see that though. You were elsewhere, frolicking in your freedom." This was an enormous guilt trip, I knew, but he deserved it.

Edward look appalled. And angry. Livid in fact. Then he sighed.

"I am sorry, Bella. Please believe me. I'd do anything to take back my actions, but I can't. But, you've got to believe that it hurt me more than anything I'd ever done. The pain you'd experienced in being turned into a vampire, I was going through that for the entire time I spent away from you." He stretched out his hand to mine, but I took a step back.

"Then you shouldn't have left." I concluded, turning away, to run again.

**EPOV**

No.

I couldn't let Bella leave, I caught her arm before she could run and spun her around.

And then I kissed her. I didn't need to be gentle with her anymore. I let myself go, I allowed my hands to roam around her back, and I pressed her to me, my lips became almost aggressive against hers, because I knew this could be the last time I ever kissed her. And Bella was definitely kissing me back too. Her hands were in my hair, and she was on toes, wrapping herself around me.

And then her lips froze.

She pulled back.

And ran.

**Author's note:**

**Despite my last conclusion that I would not be uploading a chapter everyday, I have uploaded another. Mainly because I have no life, and everyone's away near to Christmas :(**

**But I won't be uploading another chapter on Christmas Day (funnily enough), but I doubt anyone would be on the computer waiting for one anyway…**

**Thank you for reading, and Merry Christmas!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**EPOV**

I felt rejection wash over me as I watched her leave.

I knew that there was no point in following her now; she would want to talk to me even less now than before.

So I began to walk ( yes, walk ) back to the house.

Everyone else must have already gone, to give me and Bella some privacy while we talked, as they were nowhere to be seen.

Alice met me before I'd even crossed the river, 100 yards from the house.

"How did it go? Is she okay? How did it happen?" I bright eyes saddened as she took in my emotions.

"How does it look like it went?" I snapped at her. I wasn't in the mood for speaking.

"Did you explain why we left?" Alice didn't take the hint.

"Of course I did, but it was no use," I continued to use an irritated voice with her, hoping she'd leave me alone.

But she didn't: "But who changed her? How did it happen?" She persisted.

"Victoria," I spat, half in fury at Victoria, and half annoyance for my sister.

"But why did she leave Bella a vampire? Why didn't she just drain her?" Alice continued.

"LEAVE ME ALONE ALICE!" I yelled at her.

_Oof, touchy as always, _I heard Rosalie think.

I picked up a rock and pelted it at her, but it shattered as it hit her granite skin.

"Didn't hurt," Rosalie mocked, and I glowered at her. I wasn't in the mood to be tested.

"Edward, I care as much about Bella just as much as you," Alice reasoned. "I wanted to stay and help explain, but Carlisle said that I mustn't."

"You don't," I muttered simply. "Now go away." I said, then proceeded to follow my own advice and headed back for the forest.

I don't know why I bothered coming back to the house anyway.

Alice made to come after me, but then Esme caught her arm and held her back.

"_He'll talk later, once he's calmed down," _I heard Esme sooth Alice, as I ran into the distance.

**BPOV**

I can't believe what I just did.

After all my guarantees to myself, promising that I would not, I still managed to fall for Edward again. I could feel it in the kiss, the heat was not gone between us. We both knew it.

He didn't know I knew it though.

So what if I was still in love with him?

I would ignore my feelings.

Hide them away.

Bottle them up.

I would everything I could to ignore them because I knew that he would just hurt me hurt again.

Plus, he didn't deserve a second chance after what he'd been put me through.

I didn't care what he said, he left me and that's all that matters.

I decided to visit Jake. Jake always makes me feel better.

He'd healed me last time, and would do again.

**Author's note:**

**Sorry, this chapter is short and kinda crappy, but I'm going away tomorrow, so thought I'd upload another before I leave. I will be back on the 31****st****, and so will upload my next chapter in January probably.**

**Happy New Years! And thank you so much for all the kind reviews - they really make my day reading them :)**


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